MUSIC-CUBA: Salsa Beat Overcomes US Embargo

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 29 1997 (IPS) - For Cuban musicians, steeped in the sounds of salsa, “making it” in New York remains the Holy Grail – despite the applause the Cubans may receive in Tokyo, London or Buenos Aires.

So the feat by “Van Van” in overcoming the harsh sanctions imposed by U.S. authorities is regarded as significant by musicians here. The group is regarded here as one of the the top Cuban bands to emerge in the past 30 years. Formed in the 1960s by Juan Formell – a founding member of the Salsa musical family in Cuba – Van Van created a unique sound which, until this year, has been locked out of New York for political reasons.

Van Van broke the blockade earlier this year – although U.S. regulations stipulated they could not receive any recompense apart from living expenses. While American individuals and businesses are prevented from direct commercial collaboration with Cuban artists, however, they can be legally licensed to distribute Cuban music through business relationships with “third party” countries.

“New York is still the magnetic center of the musical world,” says Leonardo Padura, who co-wrote the screenplay of the documentary, “I Am the Sound of Salsa” – a history of Cuban musical evolution. “To leave a lasting mark on the music scene, you have to make it in the Big Apple”.

Padura says that “the success of Van Van’s New York tour this year is not simply a question of format and sound, but is also due to the timing of the tour”.

“New York is still New York, but the salsa coming out of New York is no longer the indigenous musical form it was in the 60s and 70s”. Padura adds that for the last 10 years New York salsa has been nourished by stars from the Caribbean, like Dominican Juan Luis Guerra, and Puerto Rican Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Other Cubanss – both soloists and groups – have been booked to tour in the United States, says Rachel Faro, President of the American recording label, Ashe Records. Faro – and seven other recording industry executives – have been authorized by the State Department to find ways to satisfy the growing demand for Cuban music in the United States.

Faro says: “Our passion is to bring the excellence of Cuban music to the international stage”. Faro has also been working with European labels so that the whole spectrum of Cuban music can find its way overseas. The North American music market now offers compact disks by such Cuban notables as pianist Chucho Valdes, Afro-Cuban singer Lazaro Ross, and Ignacio Pineiros septet.

In Miami, Beth Faph, manager of Specs Music – one of the largest recorded music chains in Florida, and the state where most Cuban emigres live – says that “people want to hear this music because they miss it”.

State-side impresarios note that the penetration of Cuban music into North American markets coincides with the explosive expansion of Cuban music both inside and outside the island nation. This rapidly expanding popularity has been confirmed by Havana’s recent entry to the Guinness book of records as home “to the world’s longest song.” Far from being retarded by the economic crisis that struck Cuba in 1990, the country’s recording industry has undergone recent modernization, coinciding with a new era of prosperity.

Nestor Proveyer, vice-president of Music Editions Recording Studios, says that “competition forced us to be more professional, more competitive”.

Music Editions was created in 1963 and held a monopoly on Cuban recordings until 1989, when other Cuban firms – along with a number of foreign companies – were allowed to develop their own markets. Music Editions archives include Cuba’s entire musical patrimony from 1928 through 1989.

The company has 10 thousand master tapes along with 250 compact disk masters. These recordings represent most of the 12,000 Cuban musicians who have been officially declared music professionals. Most of these music makers have graduated from art schools around the world.

Proveyer points out that “only Music Editions is producing twice as many titles as we released before the economic crisis”.

In the 1980s, Music Editions released between 30 and 70 titles per year. In the 1990s, the annual production minimum has been 80 titles, a number already exceeded in the first three months of 1997.

And as for the success of Cuban music, as typified by Van Van, Padura says confidently that “nobody offers salsa thats newer or better than the music of Van Van – here or anywhere else.”